8 Things to Ensure Perfect Functional Software Testing

During the software development process, the functional testing phase is an essential step to ensure the product is sound. Quality assurance takes practice, and if your team is failing to spot big problems during the testing stage, it’s important to take some time to determine why. Choosing an expert quality assurance team for your testing process is vital to getting a working piece of software that maintains its value in the market. Here are eight things to look for in a quality assurance leader during the testing stage.

1. Lead With Enthusiasm

The leader of the team needs to model enthusiasm and passion for the field in order to keep all team members motivated. Leaders with top technical abilities and knowledge are useless if they can’t keep their team members excited about each project. A team leader should be leading with respect and getting things accomplished. When you see someone who can boost morale in action, it can help you understand why the team is so successful.

2. Focus on Building Value

It’s also important that your team leader understands the context of the software and how it relates to your company’s value. During the testing stage, a leader must have a comprehension about the product’s features and benefits and how these things build your brand’s value. When the testing findings are presented to business owners and other important personnel, they should be presented in a way that makes sense to the business’ vision.

3. Provide Information and Details

A testing team should also have a strong understanding of all of the intricate details and information about each test throughout the process. Even though only one test may reveal a problem, it’s important to check off every component of the software to find out if there are additional hidden failures. Instead of making a conclusion about what may be causing the breakdown, a good testing team simply relays as much information as possible about what is happening.

4. Help Influence Decisions

The most important job of the testing team is to help your business make better decisions about your software and the development process. Strong quality assurance teams will have experience with influencing decisions about software and will be able to make recommendations about what steps to next take. They will also be able to explain the impact of each error from the testing process.

5. Understand the Product

Before settling on a testing team, make sure all members of the team have a strong background of knowledge about your type of software. The lead person on the team should have the most working knowledge of the product and be a highly-capable expert. This type of knowledge doesn’t happen naturally all the time, so look for a leader and a group of people who are willing to invest in the time it takes to understand your product completely.

6. Improve the Process Timeline

Like any other business process, the testing steps must also be constantly improved for efficiency. An effective leader will be evaluating the process throughout the testing stage and looking for opportunities of improvement. Strong leaders are usually never satisfied and strive for perfection. If a leader is not reviewing the process at any time, this may be a red flag.

7. Continue to Learn More About the Field

Additionally, a strong team should be led by someone who is also striving for additional knowledge in the field of software development and functional QA testing. The team supervisor and staff should be embarking on regular professional development, such as taking classes, leading workshops, and publishing professional articles. This helps promote the field and gives the team the latest information about software testing.

8. Provide Positive and Negative Feedback

At the end of the testing process, it’s important for the QA team to reflect about the steps and give both positive and negative feedback. This is an essential part of developing better testing procedures, stronger products, and top expertise in the field. Most teams present a formal report of the entire testing process to help pinpoint opportunities for celebration and improvement.

To improve your software’s performance during its lifetime, you’ll need to start with a better QA testing process. You’ll need to choose a team that is destined for success by focusing your energy and attention on finding the right leader. A strong leader can help take your software development process to the highest levels.